Animation is one of the fastest-growing fields in film and television, and it is also integral to video games and web development. Once an esoteric and hard-won skill, technology has advanced to the point that simple animated projects can now be produced on a home PC. Its many enthusiasts have fuelled a range of new courses in universities, and in public and private colleges. Drawing on their extensive experience in the field, the authors offer a systematic overview of the role of the animation producer and the production process. They explain how to develop a concept, pitch it to obtain funding, and find a market. They offer detailed advice on recruiting a team, managing different stages of production (including overseas suppliers), quality control, budgeting and scheduling. They also outline the key aspects of 2D and 3D production.From project development, seeking investment to pre- and post-production, for film, television, and the web, The Animation Producer's Handbook is the 'one-stop shop' for budding animators everywhere.

Examining post-1990s Indie cinema alongside more mainstream films, Brereton explores the emergence of smart independent sensibility and how films break the classic linear narratives that have defined Hollywood and its alternative 'art' cinema. The work explores how bonus features on contemporary smart films speak to new generational audiences.

Character animation involves more than the principles of animation and the mechanics of motion. As an animator, you've just been asked to animate a scene where a character arrives to work, late. While you know how to animate the character's movements, how should the character enter into the scene? Does the character enter slowly? Quickly? Doggedly determined? Hesitantly? Is he frustrated, or merely apathetic? What is the larger context for the character being late? The answers to these questions can certainly affect how to animate you character. Unique, believeable characters that think, feel and captivate your audience are ones that involve emotion, performance, personality, acting and story. Successful animators balance all of these elements within a single character and narrative. With Acting and Performance for Animation, discover how to create dynamic, dramatic performances and believeable character interaction. An invaluable resource for animators, Acting and Performance for Animators is a practical guide to the variety of performance techniques relevant to animators. Develop believable character interactions with chapters detailing the principles of performance, performance types, character emotion and personality, physical and psychological performance, and scene composition. Analyze scripts, sound, acting, action and performance with the practical hints and tips, hands-on assignments and animated examples featured in an extensive guide for animators working in film, TV, games and commercials. Explore different performance techniques based upon the experiences of seasoned animators with case studies featuring John Lasseter, Ray Harryhausen, Nick Park, Joanna Quinn. Expand your own performance techniques with the accompanying DVD which will feature live action reference shorts, production stills, animated examples, and further hands-on assignments.

You've researched your character extensively, tailored her to your audience, sketched hundreds of versions, and now you lean back content as you gaze at your final character model sheet. But now what? Whether you want to use her in an animated film, television show, video game, web comic, or children's book, you're going to have to make her move. Sure, there are mechanics involved in that movement, but what's most important is the emotion and drama you convey through her motions. How a character looks and is costumed starts to tell her story, but her body language reveals even more. Character Motion Mentor shows you how to pose your character, create emotion through facial expressions, and stage your character to create drama. Author Tom Bancroft addresses each topic with clear, concise prose, and then shows you what he really means through commenting on and redrawing artwork from a variety of "animation apprentices." His assignments allow you to join in and bring your drawing to the next level with concrete techniques, as well as more theoretical analysis. Character Motion Mentor is an apprenticeship in a book. Professional artists from a variety of media offer their experience through additional commentary. These include Marcus Hamilton (Dennis the Menace), Terry Dodson (X-Men), Bobby Rubio (Pixar), Buck Lewis (Disney/Dreamworks), and more. With a foreword by comicbook artist Adam Hughes, who has produced work for DC, Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, and othe companies.

As the Walt Disney Studio entered its first decade and embarked on some of the most ambitious animated films of the time, Disney hired a group of "concept artists" whose sole mission was to explore ideas and inspire their fellow animators. They Drew as They Pleased showcases four of these early pioneers and features artwork developed by them for the Disney shorts from the 1930s, including many unproduced projects, as well as for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and some early work for later features such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Introducing new biographical material about the artists and including largely unpublished artwork from the depths of the Walt Disney Archives and the Disney Animation Research Library, this volume offers a window into the most inspiring work created by the best Disney artists during the studio's early golden age. They Drew as They Pleased is the first in what promises to be a revealing and fascinating series of books about Disney's largely unexamined concept artists, with six volumes spanning the decades between the 1930s and 1990s. Copyright (c)2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

This highly entertaining business memoir describes what it was like to work for Japan's premiere animation studio, Studio Ghibli, and its reigning genius Hayao Miyazaki. Steve Alpert, a Japanese-speaking American, was the "resident foreigner" in the offices of Ghibli and its parent Tokuma Shoten and played a central role when Miyazaki's films were starting to take off in international markets. Alpert describes hauling heavy film canisters of Princess Mononoke to Russia and California, experiencing a screaming Harvey Weinstein, dealing with Disney marketers, and then triumphantly attending glittering galas celebrating the Oscar-winning Spirited Away. His one-of-a-kind portraits of Miyazaki and long-time producer Toshio Suzuki, and of sly, gruff, and brilliant businessman Yasuyoshi Tokuma, capture the hard work and artistry that have made Ghibli films synonymous with cinematic excellence. And as the lone gaijin in a demanding company run by some of the most famous and influential people in modern Japan, Steve Alpert tackles his own challenges of language and culture. No one else could have written this book.

Animation films are widely consumed in the general population and the study of animation films has blossomed. But music and sound are often marginalized, despite the significance of music, voice talent, sound design and effects for both the films and their marketing. Drawn to Sound unpacks animation film sound and music tracks, and contextualises them within the screen and music industries. Focusing on feature-length, widely-distributed films released in the post-WW2 period, the book highlights work from key centres of animation production, such as the USA, the UK, Japan, significant studios including Disney, Aardman Animation and Studio Ghibli, and major auteurs like Tim Burton. Chapters by animation experts such as Paul Wells and Daniel Goldmark and by film music authorities including Philip Hayward, Ian Inglis and Janet Halfyard offer international perspectives on the history and aesthetics of music and sound in animation film. Contributions from authors in Japan, Australia, England, the USA and Canada explore animation soundtracks, their creators and their production approaches. Different disciplinary perspectives from music, media, cultural and animation studies offer models for future analysis. As the first of its kind, this anthology is an invaluable resource for students, teachers and researchers in film, animation, music and media studies.

Widely acclaimed as the best animated film of all time, Tale of Tales is a poetic amalgam of Yuri Norstein s memories of his past and hopes and fears for the future: his post-war childhood, remnants of the personal tragedies of war, the little wolf character in the lullaby his mother used to sing, the neighbors in his crowded communal flat, the tango played in the park on summer evenings, and the small working-class boy s longing to emerge from the dark central corridor of the kommunalka into a luminous world of art and poetry. In Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator s Journey, Clare Kitson examines the passage of these motifs into the film and delves into later influences that also affected its genesis. More than merely a study of one animated film or a biography of its creator, Kitson s investigation encompasses the Soviet culture from which this landmark film emerged and sheds light on creative influences that shaped the work of this acclaimed filmmaker."

The art. The craft. The business. Animation Writing and Development takes students and animation professionals alike through the process of creating original characters, developing a television series, feature, or multimedia project, and writing professional premises, outlines and scripts. It covers the process of developing presentation bibles and pitching original projects as well as ideas for episodes of shows already on the air. Animation Writing and Development includes chapters on animation history, on child development (writing for kids), and on storyboarding. It gives advice on marketing and finding work in the industry. It provides exercises for students as well as checklists for professionals polishing their craft. This is a guide to becoming a good writer as well as a successful one.
* Filled with writing exercises that will challenge your writing limits
* Understand inspiration, idea gathering, and story development
* Tips on how to write for kids and why certain stories appeal to different ages
* The how and why of dialogue-what works, and what doesn't

Despite the growing popularity and influence of Japanese animation in America and other parts of the world, the importance of anime studies as audio-visual translation has not been well-recognized academically. In order to throw new light on this problem, the author attempts to clarify distinctive characteristics of English dubs of Japanese animated films between the 1980s and the 2000s, including Hayao Miyazaki's, in descriptive ways: through a corpus-based statistical analysis of vocabulary and a qualitative case study approach to the multimodal text from a synchronic and diachronic point of view. Discussing how translation norms have changed on the spectrum from target-oriented to source-oriented, the author carefully examines what kind of shift occurred to translations of Japanese animation around the turn of the 21st century. Whereas the pre-2000 translations tend to give preference to linguistic persuasion (i.e., a preference for expository dialogue that sounds natural to the American audiences), the post-2000 translations attach higher priority to achieving dynamic equivalence of the multimodal situations as a whole. The translation of anime has been rapidly increasing its rich diversity these few decades, opening up new possibilities and directions for translating its unique visual and iconic language.

In Hollywood Cartoons, Michael Barrier takes us on a glorious guided tour of American animation in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, to meet the legendary artists and entrepreneurs who created Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, Wile E. Coyote, Donald Duck, Tom and Jerry, and many other cartoon favorites.
Beginning with black-and-white silent cartoons such as Winsor McCay's "Gertie the Dinosaur," Barrier offers an insightful account of animation's first flowering, taking us inside early New York studios and such Hollywood giants as Disney, Warner Bros., and MGM. Barrier excels at illuminating the creative side of animation--revealing how stories are put together, how animators develop a character, how technical innovations enhance the "realism" of cartoons. Here too are colorful portraits of the giants of the field, from Walt and Roy Disney and their animators (including Ub Iwerks, Bill Tytla, and Ward Kimball), to Dave and Max Fleischer, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, and Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. And along the way, Barrier gives us an inside look at the making of such groundbreaking cartoons as "Out of the Inkwell" (with KoKo the Clown), "Steamboat Willie" (the first successful sound cartoon), "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," and "Bambi."
The years from the Depression through World War Two witnessed a golden age of American animation. Based on hundreds of interviews with veteran animators, Hollywood Cartoons gives us the definitive inside look at this colorful era and at the creative process behind these marvelous cartoons.

The book contains the proceedings of the 8th Eurographics Rendering Workshop, which took place from 16th to 18th June, 1997, in Saint Etienne, France. After a series of seven successful events the workshop is now well established as the major international forum in the field of rendering and illumination techniques. It brought together the experts of this field. Their recent research results are compiled in this proceedings together with many color images that demonstrate new ideas and techniques. This year we received a total of 63 submissions of which 28 were selected for the workshop after a period of careful reviewing and evaluation by the 27 mem bers of the international program committee. The quality of the submissions was again very high and, unfortunately, many interesting papers had to be rejected. In addition to regular papers the program also contains two invited lectures by Shenchang Eric Chen (Live Picture) and Per Christensen (Mental Images). The papers in this proceedings contain new research results in the areas of Finite-Element and Monte-Carlo illumination algorithms, image-based render ing, outdoor and natural illumination, error metrics, perception, texture and color handling, data acquisition for rendering, and efficient use of hardware. While some contributions report results from more efficient or elegant algo rithms, others pursue new and experimental approaches to find better solutions to the open problems in rendering."

With an abundance of information on how to create motion graphics already available, Design in Motion focuses on the why of moving image and less about the how. By unpacking the reasons behind screen designer's production choices, each chapter deconstructs examples of motion graphics by drawing on case studies of both familiar examples from contemporary cinema and unseen work from postgraduate motion graphic designers. It examines the value of image, text, motion, camera and transitions, explaining in detail why some methods work, while others fail. Whether you work in info-graphics, documentary or design, this book is structured to follow the production process and, together with its multimedia companion website, will be a by-your-side companion to guide you through your next project.

"An excellent reference work on the subject." Library Journal (starred review) For fans, culture watchers, and perplexed outsiders, this expanded edition offers an engaging tour of the anime megaverse, from older artistic traditions to the works of modern creators like Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon, and CLAMP. Examined are all of anime's major themes, styles, and conventions, plus the familiar tropes of giant robots, samurai, furry beasts, high school heroines, and gay/girl/fanboy love. Concluding are fifteen essays on favorite anime, including Evangelion, Escaflowne, Sailor Moon, Patlabor, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Patrick Drazen is an anime historian who lives in Bloomington Normal, Illinois.

Revised and updated to include The Boy And The Heron.

The animations of Japan's Studio Ghibli are among the most respected in the movie industry. Their films rank alongside the most popular non-English language films ever made, with each new release a guaranteed box office hit. The studio's founders, Hayao Miyazaki and the late Isao Takahata, have created timeless masterpieces. Their films are distinctly Japanese but the themes are universal: humanity, community and a love for the environment.

Studio Ghibli outlines the history of the studio and explores the early output of its founders. It examines all the studio's major works including Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle, as well as the Oscar-winning Spirited Away.

Also included are the more recent animations: Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-nominated masterpiece The Wind Rises, Isao Takahata's The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Goro Miyazaki's Earwig and the Witch and Hayao Miyazaki's latest box office success, The Boy and the Heron, which won a BAFTA, Golden Globe & Oscar.

Enhance your knowledge of motion graphic design aesthetics and history with this authoritative look at the evolution of the art form. Motion Graphic Design, Third Edition provides a historical and critical overview of how the language of traditional graphic design is combined with the dynamic visual language of cinema in film, television, and interactive media. It features works from highly acclaimed animators and motion graphics studios from across the globe. This new edition has been updated to include: Thorough analysis of motion graphics designed for websites, informational kiosks, desktop and mobile touchscreen applications, DVD menus, and games Inspiring examples of how motion graphics continue to shape our visual landscape by transforming interior and exterior spaces into more engaging, immersive environments Coverage of conventional frame-by-frame animation techniques including stop-motion, cutout, and freehand by contemporary animators and motion design studios Instruction in how to create continuity or discontinuity and maintain the interest of viewers with frame mobility and rhythmic editing Discussion of pictorial and sequential aspects of motion graphics compositions and how they are choreographed to enhance messages and enrich stories downloadable resources featuring new professional and student work from around the globe, as well as figures from the textbook This is a must-have whether you are a student who is learning the principles of motion graphics or a professional in need of inspiration and new ways to impress your clients. Anyone working in or aspiring to work in the motion media industry will benefit greatly from this valuable resource.

A great collectors book for fans of Disney Oscar-nominated Wreck it Ralph movies and a resource for animation and film students. Features exclusive content on the making of Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 Through never-before-seen concept art, character sketches, storyboards, colorscripts, and interviews with the production team, The Art of Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 reveals the artistic process behind Disney's highly anticipated sequel to the Oscar-nominated 2012 animated Disney film Wreck-It Ralph. In the follow-up to the Oscar-nominated film Wreck-It Ralph, our hero leaves his arcade for the expansive universe of the Internet. Disney's artists have brought the world of the Internet (a world you may think you know) to life in an all-new, imaginative way. Through never-before-seen concept art, character sketches, storyboards, and colorscripts, along with interviews with the production team, The Art of Ralph Breaks the Internet reveals the artistic process behind Disney's highly anticipated sequel. Exclusive, behind-the-scenes content from Disney's artists Written by Jessica Julius, director, creative affairs, at Walt Disney Animation Studios and author of The Art of Zootopia; Phil Johnston, director and screenwriter of Ralph Breaks the Internet, co-writer of Oscar-winning animated film Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph; and Rich Moore, director of Ralph Breaks the Internet, Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph. Fans of The Art of Wreck-It Ralph (The Art of Disney) and The Art of Pixar: 25th Anniversary: The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation will enjoy this book. Ideal gift for fans of Disney/Pixar animated movies, students, animators and artists, and collectors Makes an interesting coffee table book (c)2018 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

As Roger Rosenblatt put it, "What makes "Serious Business" a special treat is that it is like the best of the cartoons itself--funny, touching, and infused with thoughtful joy." This generously illustrated history of animation looks at the creation and celluloid careers of such American icons as Felix the Cat, Jiminy Cricket, Mickey and Minnie, Popeye and Olive Oyl, Goofy, Yogi Bear, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry, and the Pink Panther. Art and commerce collide again and again as Stefan Kanfer wittily probes the origins of such diverse cartoon families as the Flintstones, the Jetsons, and the Simpsons and looks at the phenomenal success of feature-length animated films such as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "The Lion King," "Serious Business" is itself a classic of animation, bringing to life an art and an industry whose creations have now worked their way into every corner of American life.

Wes Anderson startled audiences with his stop-motion animated film of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. He now displays his unique wit and playful visual sense in an action-filled saga of Samurai dogs.

Unprecedented kinds of experience, and new modes of life, are now produced by simulations, from the CGI of Hollywood blockbusters to animal cloning to increasingly sophisticated military training software, while animation has become an increasingly powerful pop-cultural form. Today, the extraordinary new practices and radical objects of simulation and animation are transforming our neoliberal-biopolitical "culture of life". The Animatic Apparatus offers a genealogy for the animatic regime and imagines its alternative futures, countering the conservative-neoliberal notion of life's sacred inviolability with a new concept and ethics of animatic life.

Designed to trick the eye and stimulate the imagination, special effects have changed the way we look at films and the worlds created in them. Computer-generated imagery (CGI), as seen in Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Men in Black, and The Matrix, is just the latest advance in the evolution of special effects. Even as special effects have been marveled at by millions, this is the first investigation of their broader cultural reception. Moving from an exploration of nineteenth-century popular science and magic to the Hollywood science fiction cinema of our time, Special Effects examines the history, advancements, and connoisseurship of special effects, asking what makes certain types of cinematic effects special, why this matters, and for whom. Michele Pierson shows how popular science magazines, genre filmzines, and computer lifestyle magazines have articulated an aesthetic criticism of this emerging art form and have helped shape how these hugely popular on-screen technological wonders have been viewed by moviegoers.

A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2019 Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Felix the Cat, and other beloved cartoon characters have entertained media audiences for almost a century, outliving the human stars who were once their contemporaries in studio-era Hollywood. In Animated Personalities, David McGowan asserts that iconic American theatrical short cartoon characters should be legitimately regarded as stars, equal to their live-action counterparts, not only because they have enjoyed long careers, but also because their star personas have been created and marketed in ways also used for cinematic celebrities. Drawing on detailed archival research, McGowan analyzes how Hollywood studios constructed and manipulated the star personas of the animated characters they owned. He shows how cartoon actors frequently kept pace with their human counterparts, granting "interviews," allowing "candid" photographs, endorsing products, and generally behaving as actual actors did-for example, Donald Duck served his country during World War II, and Mickey Mouse was even embroiled in scandal. Challenging the notion that studios needed actors with physical bodies and real off-screen lives to create stars, McGowan demonstrates that media texts have successfully articulated an off-screen existence for animated characters. Following cartoon stars from silent movies to contemporary film and television, this groundbreaking book broadens the scope of star studies to include animation, concluding with provocative questions about the nature of stardom in an age of digitally enhanced filmmaking technologies.

Anime: A Critical Introduction maps the genres that have thrived within Japanese animation culture, and shows how a wide range of commentators have made sense of anime through discussions of its generic landscape. From the battling robots that define the mecha genre through to Studio Ghibli's dominant genre-brand of plucky shojo (young girl) characters, this book charts the rise of anime as a globally significant category of animation. It further thinks through the differences between anime's local and global genres: from the less-considered niches like nichijo-kei (everyday style anime) through to the global popularity of science fiction anime, this book tackles the tensions between the markets and audiences for anime texts. Anime is consequently understood in this book as a complex cultural phenomenon: not simply a "genre," but as an always shifting and changing set of texts. Its inherent changeability makes anime an ideal contender for global dissemination, as it can be easily re-edited, translated and then newly understood as it moves through the world's animation markets. As such, Anime: A Critical Introduction explores anime through a range of debates that have emerged around its key film texts, through discussions of animation and violence, through debates about the cyborg and through the differences between local and global understandings of anime products. Anime: A Critical Introduction uses these debates to frame a different kind of understanding of anime, one rooted in contexts, rather than just texts. In this way, Anime: A Critical Introduction works to create a space in which we can rethink the meanings of anime as it travels around the world.